Branthell's Lament
by dragonharper
Summary: Branthell, the White Towers ex-assassin for darkfriends, has joined the Tuatha'an after his wife Alaina's death. Can he give up the sword?
1. Introduction

I do not own Robert Jordan's world nor any of his characters. This is merely an idea that swam around in my head and I thought a few people might enjoy this. Let me know what you think! I also apologize for any tense jumps and any other errors I have inadvertently missed!!

The old man came out of the blue painted wagon and sat down on the sturdy wooden steps. He pulled his bright green hood over the dark curls of his hair. His old gray eyes watched the play of the younger boys. The man smiled at the innocent play of the children and remembered a time when he played the same way. He then turned his gaze towards his belt and the weapon hanging there. The Tuatha'an were generous letting him stay here when he was a man of violence. Each day he killed his food to eat, yet in the peace and serenity of the wagons he ate the fruit of the earth like those around him. The carefree lifestyle was much to behold after having been a hunter of many things for his whole life. 

The old man remembered his wife and a tear coursed down his grizzled face until it became absorbed into the white fluff of his beard. Alaina had been a strong woman, strong and beautiful. Tall and proud she stood with long brown hair and green eyes. She had not liked his career but she loved him for his ideas not the way he put bread on the table. More tears came as the man, Branthell, remembered her tender gaze and her last words as she lay dying in his arms. 

"Branthell, forgive him, he is lost. I love you." Alaina's last words and the lifeless stare of her green eyes haunted him to this day. She had died two years ago and he had not killed anything since. The leader of the caravan, Alric, believed Branthell would eventually throw the sword away and completely give in to the Way. Branthell really did not know why he kept the sword, but for him it was something he clung to. He had killed with the sword and something told him he would kill once more.

After Alaina died, the Tuatha'an caravan found him one night in the snow face down and stinking of ale. Alric knew Branthell from a few encounters and took the man in. The next morning, as Branthell had prepared to leave, Alric came to him.

"Branthell, you are a good man." Alric began looking sadly at the sword hanging by his side. "You are a good man that has fallen by the wayside. Alaina only wished for your happiness. I wish for you to be at peace. Stay with us and find your peace."

Branthell looked wordlessly at the man for a few moments. Alric spoke again. " You do not have to give up your sword until you are ready…"

"I will keep my sword, Alric, but I will kill nothing while I am in your home. I will be as one of you and quest for the Song until I leave."

Alric looked at the man, with sadness still in his eyes. "You need not leave. I respect your decision. May the Light shine on you."

"Thank you Alric. May the Light shine you as well." From that morning forward, Branthell was a man of the caravan. His sword drew looks at first, more than a few were frightened, but after two years, the people had become accustomed to the strange man with the sword and accepted him as a seeker of the song.

Branthell knew Alaina would be proud of his acceptance of the way, and he also knew the whole caravan knew he had not fully accepted the Way and Alric suspected why but he never accused Branthell of anything. So Branthell set up with the people and traveled were they traveled and they all respected each other.

********

The children were playing in front of the city walls as a soldier on the watch passed by. He noticed the garish wagons nearby and his lip curled in contempt what he termed the peace loving fools. The soldier headed towards the children with an unhealthy look in his eyes.

*******

Shouting startled Branthell out of his reverie and he looked towards the children. He saw a middle-aged soldier shouting at the children and brandishing a heavy club. Branthell surged up and run to protect the younger members of his family.

"You pacifist fools. Fight me! Fight ME!" The soldier was in a frenzy brandishing the club at the frightened children. The older members in their teens had shoved the young ones behind them. 

"RUN!" The oldest yelled at the youngest…"Just run!" The small children began running and wailing at the same time. The rest of the Tuatha'an began running out of their wheeled homes. The soldier began swinging at the boy just as Branthell reached the scene. He jumped in the way of the club. "Run Jarred, just run." Jarred began to run as Branthell hit the ground hard. Anxious mothers were herding the children back to the wagons. They believed more violence would follow.

Branthell picked himself up off the ground and stood up to face the soldier. The soldier stood there shocked to see a mismatched Tinker standing there with a sword hung at his side.

"You will not harm these children. Walk away." Branthell turned. He knew he could not harm this man in front of his family. They would not understand his return to violence. 

The soldier was incensed when this man with the sword turned from him. The green eyes of the soldier fell upon the sword that hung at the man's side. He recognized the sword. His eyes traveled to the hair and he saw it as he knew it from two years ago. 

"Branthell….you will die!" The soldier began to rush the man and found himself restrained. The Tuatha'an had quietly surrounded the man. They held his arms back until the man began thrashing and then they let him go seeing Branthell had walked far enough away. The soldier turned away and in his heart bided his time. After all, Branthell had been his original target until the beauty Alaina got in his way.


	2. History

*Disclaimer: If you have ever read Robert Jordan, you know that the Tuatha'an etc…do not belong to me. Branthell is mine, as well as the soldier, Alaina, and Alric.

**Twenty-Five Years Ago**

"You filthy Darkfriend. You sold your soul to the Dark One!" A curly haired young man whispered in the ear of the straight black haired man he held.

"Branthell…I know your voice. Come with me." The black haired man crooned.

"Never Paitr. I know you and your kind." Branthell snarled into the man's ear. Branthell brought the dagger up to slit the man's throat just as a young boy of five walked into the alleyway. He had the same straight black hair of Paitr and the same light green eyes. He must have been the Darkfriend's son.

"Father, I…" The young boy stopped as he saw a curly haired man bring a dagger up and methodically slit his fathers throat "Danni….." The father whispered as the knife slid along his exposed skin.

The boy ran to his father and fixed Branthell with a look of pure fear and a new emotion, hate, bubbled up out of the depths of those innocent green eyes. Branthell had stolen the boys innocence, but the boy did not know of the evil deeds his dark friend father performed. Perhaps Paitr had been a good man once, but the deeds of a dark friend spoke more loudly than Paitrs past. Branthell looked upon the boy, Danni, for only second before escaping through a drain nearby.

****Two Weeks Later****

"Commander, see that?" The commander of the Whitecloak troop looked off to where the younger officer pointed. A small cloak was stumbling and weaving down the road. To the eyes of the commander, it looked like a child. "Officer, that is a child. Bring him to me." The commander raised his white gloved hand signaling the troop to a halt.

The young officer dismounted and circled around the child so as to come by the front. "Hello my child." The child looked up and the officer could see the child's cracked lips and bloodshot eyes. He opened his mouth but his throat was so dry he could not speak. The officer took the flask of water hanging at this belt and handed it to the child. He greedily gulped the water. 

"Gently." The officer grasped the flask and helped pour out a smaller portion into the child's starved lips.

"Thank you sir." The child handed the flask back to the officer.

"What is your name my child?"

"Danni." the child replied looking up with anxious green eyes. Could that be a hardness is this youths eyes? The soldier dismissed the thought immediately. "Danni, see that man on the horse? He would like the help you. Will you come with me?" The soldier held out his hand to the child and the child reached his small hand out and grasped the soldiers hand.

******The White Tower*******

A woman with a red stole emblazoned with the Flame of Tar Valon closed the door and quickly wove a ward against eavesdropping. She looked at the curly haired man in front of her. "You have done well Branthell. Your payment is here." She handed a small burlap purse full of silver to the man. 

"He had a son Aes Sedai. He saw me kill his father."

"Yes," she said briskly, "We know of Danni. He will be taken care of." She already knew the Whitecloaks had the boy and truly did not care. The dark friend was dead and that was all the red sister cared about.

"I am through with you Aes Sedai. I will not longer do your dirty work." Branthell threw the purse on the table to his right and walked out the door. The Aes Sedai did not care, there were plenty of men just like Branthell that would eagerly kill for money. Branthell was different because he killed to rid the world of Darkfriends, he committed a necessary evil to get rid of a great evil. The Aes Sedai watched the man go. "The Light shine upon you."

*****Danni*****  
Danni started up out of a solid slumber as he remembered the murder of his father. He had small satisfaction in knowing that he had slaughtered Alaina as she begged for Danni to follow the Way of the Leaf. The cow even forgave him. She was only a Tinker, she knew nothing. The power of the Dark Lord was all encompassing. His poor father never deserved to die. What had his father ever done to that man Branthell?

"Nothing." Danni said aloud. Since the Whitecloaks had adopted him as one of their own, Danni was trained as one. He learned how to fight in the street as well as the gentlemen's game. He threw himself to his studies with a fierce abandon that shocked his saviors. The whole time, Danni searched for Branthell. He hoped to run across the man and kill him in the same way the killed Danni's father. Revenge drove his whole existence until one day a man came to him at night.

Danni had been drinking heavily. This night was the anniversary of his fathers' merciless slaying and he wanted to forget the pain. He sat alone at a table until a dark unshaven man approached and asked for a seat.

"Care to tell me about your trouble friend?" Danni looked up and seeing the man slap a coin on the table to buy another drink. Danni related his tale and the man replied, "I can help you. Meet me here tomorrow night." And the unnamed man left.

Tomorrow night came and Danni found himself meeting the man and following him to a dark back room of a house down a quiet alley. Danni could smell fresh blood but he followed the man anyway. The mysterious man had paid for more than enough ale at the tavern to put Danni under the weather. 

The man was leading Danni with a candle in his hand and Danni followed the pinprick of light more than anything else. Suddenly the light stopped and Danni stopped in front of a door with a blood red design on the door. A blood curdling scream came from behind the door and from that point on Danni only remembered vague pictures. Another man, tall and handsome, asked Danni if he would give up his soul to get revenge upon Branthell and he replied yes. A few other vague pictures and Danni remembered no more until he woke up the next morning in his own bed. He thought the had only dreamed the last two days until he looked down at the device burned blood red into his chest. It was no bigger than an inch but hurt like the sun. Danni did not know, but he was already doomed.

*****Branthell******

Branthell walked away from the fight and remembered the young soldier from two years ago. A deeper memory tugged at him, but he could not place it. Branthell walked back to his single wagon and closed the door. As he slid the bolt home, he undid his sword belt and slid it to the floor. Tears coursed down his face as he remembered Alaina's last words. " Forgive him, he is lost. I love you." She had struggled with breath after those words and then slowly died in his arms. Alaina had so much more courage than the did. She even valued a life such as his and that of the boy who killed her. Branthell suddenly remembered the last murder he had ever performed. A boy had witnessed, a boy with black hair just like the soldiers from today. The picture of his last victim's face fused with that of the soldiers from today and he suddenly recalled the name. "Danni…He killed my wife, because I killed his father." Branthell sank to the floor in grief for his dead wife, for all the men he killed in what he was told the Name of the Light, and for the young soldier Danni, whose life he had destroyed.

Some time later, maybe minutes, maybe days, a knock came at his door. Branthell struggled with his grief and answered the door. It was the leader of the Tuatha'an caravan Alric. " Branthell, I see this encounter has caused you much grief." Branthell looked at the man and wordlessly handed the sword over. Alric took the blade. The blade was a fine blade with a heron mark on the scabbard but left off the actual metal of the sword. "I know what to do with this."

"I killed his father." Alric looked at Branthell. "He killed my wife and now I join the Tuatha'an completely. I want no more violence. His eyes were filled with the most hate I have ever seen. He did not know of the filthy Darkfriend deeds his father had done. I had no respect for life. Alaina taught me to live. She lived each moment with such passion and now I am here and she is gone."

Alric quietly left Branthell to himself. When a man comes to the sudden catharsis that Branthell had been led up to today, he needed peace to accept his new life."

***Memory of Alaina****

The sun had been shining all day. Alaina lay on the grass with the sun shining upon her radiant hair. "Branthell, these are the moments we live for." He looked at his love and saw tears slowly coursing down her face. She was looking at a lone dove flying through the air. The dove was a pure white and shining from some inner light. The breeze at the same time was gently rippling the lake creating a crystalline shimmer in the air. Under the dappled shade of the tree, Alaina explained the Way of the Leaf as she saw it and in it's simplicity Branthell then wished he could accept.

"These moments are made of heartbreaking beauty. The beauty is so near and so close to perfection we are forever changed by it. The Creator sends these small pieced of heaven to us. To follow the Way means to embrace these moments in entirety and see them everywhere. Those that follow the Way drink these moments in like a king drinks fine wine. Oh Branthell, I love you. When I am gone, please follow the way." 

Branthell looked down at his wife and saw the only perfection he thought he would ever see. A tear flowed down his face and he looked away ashamed.

***

Branthell carried this perfect memory with him forever, and as he looked out the window of his wagon, he saw a pure white dove flying through the air and he wept for the simple love of life.


	3. Alaina's Death

*yeah I don't own the Tuatha'an, Whitecloaks, etc….Alaina, Danni, Branthell, Alric and any other random characters are mine. Most terms and phrases "Darkfriend and The Light shine on you" etc.. belong to the Master, Jordan.

*****Alaina's Death*****

Branthell smiled as he listened to Alaina speak. She was so full of the passion of life. Her energy alone could cause a man to love her. They lead their horse to the stables and Branthell missed the dark shape that moved in the shadows.

Alaina was caught by surprise as white gloved hands grabbed her from behind. She could feel something pressed into her back and she tensed. "Branthell…" she whispered.

"Your precious Branthell cannot save you whore. You will die." A rough voice screamed into her ear. Alaina looked at Branthell as he held their lantern aloft. 

"Alaina, don't move."

"Alaina," the man said, "Did you know Branthell killed my father. Twenty five years ago he murdered him in cold blood in a cold, dark alleyway. I witnesses him methodically pull the knife across my fathers smooth skin. And what for??? Nothing I tell you!" Alaina could hear the mad grief in the man's voice.

Branthell helplessly watched the scene. "I am a changed man. I have not killed a man since then. I promise. I have changed."

Alaina was crying and whispering " I forgive you for what you are about to do. I forgive you. I forgive you." She kept repeating the phrase.

"You should have reached your new found love twenty six years ago. My father was honest."

"Your father was a filthy Darkfriend. He committed obscene acts for the name of the Dark Lord!"

"Enough!" Danni screamed. He rammed the knife into Alaina's back and threw her down. Branthell pulled his sword out and advanced on the white garbed soldier.

"My father was honest. He never hurt anyone." Danni circled Branthell with only a knife. The fight was not fair but Branthell was mad with rage over Alaina. Branthell lunged but Danni sidestepped. The circled each other and eventually stumbled out into the alleyway nearby. Branthell lunged forward just as Danni leapt to spear the older man. Instead the younger man impaled himself on the sword. Branthell jerked his sword out of Danni's side and ran to Alaina. He did not care if the boy lived or died, he only needed his Alaina.

"Branthell," She began, " I love you. Life is precious." She sputtered some. Branthell spoke, "I love you Alaina, please don't leave me!" He could see the light dying in her eyes. "Forgive him, he is lost. I love you." Her breathing began to falter, her dying eyes found his and she smiled. He knew she was seeing her last earthly moment of beauty. "Alaina…" Branthell screamed for his loss, screamed until his throat was raw and bloody and blood vessels burst in his eyes. He staggered to his feet and stumbled blindly. He could not see where he was going, he blindly made his way out of the city blind with grief. 

******The Tuatha'an*****

Five days after Branthell's blind flight, the Tuatha'an found him sleeping on a pile of mud in the forest. Blood from Alaina, Danni, and himself covered his clothing and his right hand still gripped his sword while the left clutched a bloodstained green cloth Branthell did not even know he had torn from Alaina's dress. The events that had transpired in the last five days were never to be recovered from Branthell's memory, he only knew Alaina was dead.

The leader of the caravan stooped over the curly haired man's body. By outward appearances, he was dead. He then saw the man's chest rise and fall. "Bring me water and ointment!" He yelled back to the caravan. He dropped to his knees and began untangling the sword from the man's hand. At this, Branthell stirred.

"Wha.." He could utter no more. Branthell's throat throbbed in pain and dryness. A boy of fifteen ran up with the water. The leader of the caravan, a dark haired man named Alric poured some water on a rag and began cleaning the blood and grime from the man's eyes and lips. Once he had done this, he gave him some water.

"Here friend, drink slowly." Alric helped to prop the man up and he reached for the flask of water and slowly sipped. " I am Alric. I lead this band of Tuatha'an."

"Branthell." Alric took this for the mans name and nodded understanding he could speak no more.

"Wil, bring me my horse." Alric addressed the young man. Wil obediently went to fetch the horse. In the mean time, Alric helped the weak Branthell up and helped set him on the horse once Wil lead the animal over.

Alric patted the horse on the nose and asked him to bear the burden for a few short moments and the animal snorted. With that, he lead them back to the wagons. Alric's wife came to help with Branthell. He was lead to a bright green wagon with purple steps and orange windows.

The Tuatha'an took care of Branthell for a week before he began to speak a bit. They gave him new clothes and disposed of the others, however, Branthell refused to give up the blood stained cloth from Alaina's dress. Alric offered a home for Branthell for as long as he needed one. Branthell accepted and lived by the Way except for keeping the sword at his belt. He never killed another living thing after that. Alaina always wanted him to come to the Way. He was surprised that she had stayed with him for their ten years together. Before she died, she had spoken of her old caravan and he had almost been swayed then, but now he did not think he could give up the sword just yet.


End file.
